Suggestion: KSP date format

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

Been working in excel, (and access) and I needed a usable KSP date that could be sorted by the computer. So I did this:

y001d102 (year 1 day 102)

y005d008 (year 5 day 8)

y098d012 (year 98 day 12)

as long as you make each part a 3 digit number (use leading zeros) it works.

Just thought I'd share.

EDIT: fixed the year part,

Edited December 14, 2014 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[bigyihsuan]

But then what about when you go past 3 digits? Does everything break?

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

But then what about when you go past 3 digits? Does everything break?

You're playing KSP for 1000 years?! (Interstellar mod?)

True, it only works for the 1st Millennium.

EDIT: you COULD use a 4 digit year. Then it fails in 10,000 years!

Edited December 14, 2014 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[AlexinTokyo]

Use the KSP UT (i.e. seconds after epoch). It's there in game, and in the save files, and it's universal across all games independent of the time display settings.

If you want/need a usable date displayed in your forms, use a format converter to get in into Kerbin or Earth time.

Seriously, in almost all cases this will make your life easier.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

Use the KSP UT (i.e. seconds after epoch). It's there in game, and in the save files, and it's universal across all games independent of the time display settings.

If you want/need a usable date displayed in your forms, use a format converter to get in into Kerbin or Earth time.

Seriously, in almost all cases this will make your life easier.

Seconds??!!

My god, how long a number is that?

Undoubtedly true to the game engine. A format converter could be written. Not a bad idea.

But I was just looking for a simple date. A way to organize my departure schedule. I really don't think I'll be able to wrap my head around the difference between 10 billion and 12 trillion seconds.

Maybe in my next build.

Thanks

[r4pt0r]

I always thought if ksp was coded like that( y001d102h04m45s56) instead of the KSP UT(limited by 32-bit interger) then it count higher, since the ticker can just roll over more and more. OP's suggestion woul last till year 999, whereas current system tops out at year 234 or something.

[klgraham1013]

Man. I can't wait for Y2K in Kerbal. Everybody go nuts!

[Damien_The_Unbeliever]

You could always adapt RFC2550's approach if you don't want to deal with any pesky rollover details and keep a format that can be alpha-sorted.

[Laie]

Seconds??!!

My god, how long a number is that?

y001d001 is eight signs already; that would allow for a lot of seconds.

Seconds since epoch is great for anything that needs to be calculated with. For naming save games, I much prefer the y1d032 aproach, with single-digit years. Old savegames get moved/erased anyway.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

You could always adapt RFC2550's approach if you don't want to deal with any pesky rollover details and keep a format that can be alpha-sorted.

LOL! I actually started to read that damn thing!

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

y001d001 is eight signs already; that would allow for a lot of seconds.

yes but I can read it.

[thyriel]

Why invent the wheel again ? Just do it similar of how computers do it:

At the starting date/time it's 0, and every "unit" adds 1 to it. So if days are the lowest you want to know, Y1D2 would be 1, Y2D10 would be 861.

You can then not only sort it correct (as long as its stored as number and not as string), plus you can do maths with it too like adding, substracting and so on. And it wouldn't limit you at any time (beside the natural limit of variable types)

Edited December 16, 2014 by thyriel

[TeMPOraL]

Can't we just adapt ISO 8601, which is the correct way to write numeric dates?

[michaelsteele3]

Is this the wrong Forum? (While it does seem to be a discussion, it is marked as a suggestion)

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/59-Suggestions-and-Development-Discussion